She is one of Brazil's most successful exports; a 1.80 metre (5ft 11in) supermodel whose meteoric rise to catwalk fame has transformed her into one of the wealthiest, most recognisable women on earth.

But Gisele Bündchen's latest project, a lingerie campaign for the Brazilian label Hope, has appalled government officials in her homeland and led to calls for the "sexist" and "stereotyped" adverts to be axed.

The campaign includes several TV spots, one of which features a scantily-clad Bündchen, trying to appease her husband after committing a series of marital blunders: crashing his car, maxing his credit card and, worst of all, inviting his mother-in-law to stay.

Bündchen's solution? To seduce her furious husband, using the company's new underwear line. The advert's voiceover tells viewers: "You're a Brazilian woman – use your charm".

Government officials from the women's secretariat in Brasilia failed to see the funny side, demanding it be pulled from television schedules.

"The campaign promotes the misguided stereotype of a woman as a sexual object of her husband and ignores the major advances we have achieved in deconstructing sexist practices and thinking," the secretariat said this week in a statement.

Officials said they had received at least six complaints from outraged viewers since the campaign went to air on 20 September.

"The model, Gisele Bündchen, encourages Brazilian women to use their 'charm' … to lessen possible reactions from their partners," the statement added, claiming that the advert contained "discriminatory content against women" – an infringement of two articles of the Brazilian constitution.

In a statement, Sandra Chayo, the lingerie company's director, hit back, claiming that the campaign "never intended to come across as sexist".

"Gisele can testify that all of the situations shown in the campaign are jokes about daily life … in no way should they be taken as being depreciative of the feminine figure. It would be absurd for us, who make a living off the preferences of women, to do anything to devalue our main consumer."

The lingerie campaign – dubbed "naturally beautiful" – was created by Giovanni+Draftfcb, an advertising firm with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Bündchen, who has been tipped to become the world's first billionaire supermodel, has yet to comment on the furore.

The controversy over the advert's portrayal of women, comes nine months after equal opportunity campaigners commemorated the election of Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff.

In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Rousseff, who earlier this month became the first female head of state to open proceedings at the annual United Nations general assembly, said attitudes towards women were changing in Brazil. She recounts the story of a young girl who, during last year's presidential campaign, asked her: "Can a woman be president?"

"I don't know if it is a new world, but the world is changing," Rousseff told the magazine. "For a girl to even ask about being president is a sign of progress."

In her first speech as "presidenta", Rousseff told her audience: "Yes, women can." Three key positions in her cabinet, including chief of staff, are currently occupied by women.